on the broadcast tonight, sudden impact. a huge sinkhole swallows parts of a resort near disney. people shocked out of bed in the middle of the night as the earth opened up beneath them. tonight, more evacuations and some answers about why this keeps happening. guilty of murder and gangland crimes in a decades-long reign of terror. a closer look at one of the most feared mob bosses in america and trial that gripped the city of boston. crime and punishment. there is big news on two fronts. why the feds want to send fewer people to prison, and can police really stop and search you for no good reason? and in a flash -- faster than the speed of sound, cheaper than getting on an airplane. tonight a big idea to revolutionize travel as we know it. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening, i'm lester holt sitting in tonight for brian. what an incredibly close call it was for guests at a resort near disney world when the ground literally opened up beneath them as many of them slept. let's show you what it looked like from above the scene right now in clermont, florida, where a massive sinkhole opened up changing much of the resort structure. more than 100 people were forced to evacuate. some under harrowing conditions, remarkably no one was killed. nbc's kerry sanders is there with late details. kerry, i assume you're on firm ground right now, but how big a danger area at risk is there? >> reporter: well, good evening, lester. they've moved us back three city blocks fearing the sinkhole would continue to grow. the problem actually begins about 20 to 100 feet down where there's limestone. rainwater goes through the earth

and hits that limestone, and it can cause it to dissolve. that is a recipe for disaster. >> we have a building that can potentially collapse. we don't know if it's a sinkhole or what. >> we need to know what room everybody was in. >> reporter: it was shortly after 3:00 in the morning, and maggie started her camera phone amid the chaos. she says it came without warning while on vacation with family and friends from virginia, she heard a single window pop its frame, then another and another. at first she thought it was someone in a fight. >> things flying, like glass flying. people jumping out of windows. luggage flying out of windows, people trying to salvage what they could. >> to me, it sounded like popcorn popping. pop, pop, pop. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: a security guard on patrol then began to run from unit to unit, in all evacuating 105 tourists here on vacation. >> there was people sleeping. i literally had to wake them up and tell them get out of the building. >> reporter: why do sinkholes occur? in florida, the state's sandy soil sits on top of clay, and that is all supported on a layer

of limestone. limestone is like a strainer. the water migrates down and hits florida's underground rivers, but when there is too much rain or a drought, it can create a void like a balloon with air. as that void gets bigger, the earth on top becomes too heavy, and the balloon pops, causing a catastrophic event, a sinkhole. >> geologists say they know when conditions are ripe for a sinkhole, but like an earthquake, they cannot predict when or where one will open up. >> the open sinkholes may open other sinkholes. >> reporter: triggers? >> yes, it's possible. because these are connected underground, again, by the same limestone cavity and cave structures. >> reporter: 20% of the nation is susceptible. other likely locations for sinkholes, pennsylvania, tennessee and utah. in scepter, florida, in march, a sinkhole. 30 feet wide and 50 feet deep opened up, swallowing

36-year-old jeff bush from his bedroom. his body was never recovered. here in clermont, florida, 15 hours later, survivors are still anxious. >> i'm still in shock and just very, very thankful. >> reporter: lester, the sinkhole right now is about 100 feet wide, about 15 feet deep, they guess as they're looking down there. the likelihood of something like this happening is like being struck by lightning, which, as we know, can also happen. >> we've seen them before, kerry. sounds like a bit of a guessing game. what can homeowners do or know about moving into a neighborhood and whether they're at risk? >> reporter: well, they can actually get a geological survey using ground-penetrating radar to look down there. but this is a situation where it's constantly changing, depending on the rain conditions. so you can find those bubbles, but even those bubbles don't necessarily tell you that there is going to be a catastrophic collapse. the one thing everybody needs, sinkhole insurance. >> all right. kerry sanders tonight, thanks.

tonight a terror reign followed by 16 years on the run as one of america's most wanted, mob boss james "whitey" bulger has been convicted of being involved in a string of murders and other crimes after a trial that riveted the city of boston and much of the nation. nbc's kristen dahlgren is at the federal courthouse there tonight. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. yes, this is a day many here in boston thought would never come. nearly two decades after james "whitey" bulger went on the lam, today a federal jury here found him guilty of being involved in a string of gang crimes including 11 murders. crowds swarmed boston's federal courthouse this afternoon, where inside after more than 32 hours of deliberations, jurors returned to a packed courtroom, announcing the fate of whitey bulger, one of boston's most notorious reputed mobsters. the jury of four women and eight men found him guilty of dozens of crimes, including conspiracy, racketeering, and playing a role in 11 murders. >> this day of reckoning for

bulger has been a long time in coming. >> reporter: tom donohue whose father michael was killed more than three decades ago was among the family members of the victims present throughout the trial. >> whitey bulger pretty much almost destroyed my family in every category. >> reporter: jurors decided the evidence showed bulger was involved in 11 of 19 murders, found him not involved in seven, and couldn't agree on one, the death of 26-year-old debra davis. >> my family has to live with every day and the rest of the family has to live every day with the fact that they lost a loved one. >> reporter: as today's verdict was read, the 83-year-old defendant showed no reaction. a stark contrast to the seven-week trial filled with explosive, profanity laced exchanges, dramatic testimony from bulger's long time associates, including stephen "the rifleman" flemmi and john "the executioner" martorano. even an outburst from the defendant himself, who called the proceedings a sham. >> mr. bulger knew as soon as he was arrested he was going to die behind the walls of a prison. >> reporter: bulger went on the

lam in 1994, evading law enforcement for 16 years and ultimately landing on the fbi's most wanted list. authorities finally caught up with him two years ago outside a santa monica apartment, where they also discovered weapons and more than $800,000 in cash. >> james bulger was that gangster who finally saw justice. i think some families are waiting for a little bit more, though. >> reporter: yes, and sentencing is set for mid-november but with bulger turning 84 next month, it's likely any way you cut it he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. meantime, there are many families still seeking restitution and still angry that bulger committed many of these crimes while allegedly working as an fbi informant, lester. >> all right, kristen, thank you. the justice department is rethinking how it tries some drug cases. attorney general eric holder saying those mandatory minimum sentences are not reducing crime and are leading to overcrowded prisons. so he's telling his federal prosecutors to start using some discretion in certain cases.

our justice correspondent pete williams has our report. >> reporter: natasha darrington had no criminal record when she was arrested for helping her husband sell cocaine. she got a mandatory sentence serving 11 years in prison away from her four children. >> i wasn't there to help them grow up. i missed their birthdays, high school graduations. i missed the birth of my first grandchild. i missed the funerals of both of my parents. >> reporter: the attorney general today said too many americans get long prison sentences that don't fit the crime. >> and with an outsized, unnecessarily large prison population, we need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, to deter, and to rehabilitate, but not merely to warehouse and to forget. >> reporter: the number of inmates in federal prisons, 219,000, is 8 times what it was 30 years ago and 40% over capacity. nearly half are there for drug

crimes, and roughly one-fourth of them were low-level offenders. holder today directed federal prosecutors not to report the amount of drugs involved in an arrest if it would trigger mandatory minimums for non-violent offenders who have no ties to drug cartels or gangs, who did not sell to children. welcome news to advocates of doing away with automatic sentences. >> you have punishments that are far too harsh for the crime or for the particular offender, and the judge has no choice but to impose them. >> reporter: but a former head of the u.s. drug faerenforcemen agency says cutting back on mandatory sentences takes away a bargaining chim. >> there's no mandatory minimum that they have to face, the prosecutors and the agents lose leverage for getting more information and getting to the top of the organization. >> reporter: the attorney general hopes to get mandatory drug sentences entirely off the books. an idea that's starting to attract bipartisan support in congress. pete williams, nbc news, at the justice department. tonight a federal judge has

come down hard in one of the most controversial police tactics in the country. ordering changes to new york city's so-called stop and frisk policy. the judge said it unfairly targets large numbers of minorities stopped by police without any good reason to suspect them of a crime, but supporters say it's an important crime-fighting tool that has brought violent crime down to historic lows. nbc's stephanie gosk is in times square tonight for us with more. stephanie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. crime continues to drop here in new york city, including here in times square. mayor bloomberg is saying the one of the keys to their success is their policy of stop and frisk. but what he calls good policing, other people are calling racial profiling, and those people today won a big legal victory. mayor michael bloomberg says the city of new york has become the poster child for fighting crime. >> today we have fewer guns, fewer shootings, and fewer homicides. >> reporter: but today a federal judge called the nypd's policy

of stop, question and frisk unconstitutional. the practice allowed police officers to stop and search anyone acting suspiciously. in a nearly 200-page decision the judge said the city adopted a policy of indirect racial profiling. those who are routinely subjected to stops are overwhelmingly people of color, and they are justifiably troubled to be singled out. statistics presented in court showed that between 2004 and 2012 there were 4.43 million stops. 52% were black suspects. 31% were hispanics. but the city argued during the trial that those numbers are a reflection of crime statistics, not racial profiling. >> we do not engage in racial profiling, and it is prohibited by law, and it is prohibited by our own regulations. >> reporter: the ruling does not outlaw stop and frisk altogether but it calls for a number of changes including an independent monitor of the nypd and a requirement that some officers

wear video cameras to record stops. critics of stop and frisk still want it. joy anne reed is managing editor of nbc news thegrio.com. >> people we've talked to agree being stop and frisked reported a feeling of humiliation, almost an alien in your own country. being an eternal suspect always suspected of being a criminal. >> reporter: bloomberg is not backing down from the fight. >> the public are not experts as policing. personally, i would rather have ray kelly decide how to keep my family safe. >> reporter: mayor bloomberg says he did not get a fair trial with this judge and they're going to appeal. you can bet mayors across the country will watch the case very closely. lester? >> stephanie gosk in times square, thanks. in colorado tonight worries about flash floods continue after a weekend filled with dramatic rescues. through mud slides and raging floods tore through a suburb outside colorado springs, killing at least one person.

several others were injured. tonight, nine women and seven men in new jersey have come forward to collect a share of one of the biggest powerball jackpots ever. the ocean 16 as they're being called are a group of 16 public employees who work in a county garage in the jersey shore that by the way, worked around the clock during hurricane sandy. they bought one of three winning tickets for the $448 million prize. together they split a lump sum of $86 million. each getting just under $4 million after taxes. still ahead tonight, inside a dramatic rescue in the mountains. a chance encounter and a feeling that something wasn't right. strangers being hailed as heroes for helping to take down a kidnapper. later, a new way to travel. faster than ever. no planes, no trains, no automobiles involved. a big idea from a billionaire with a track record.

we're learning new information about a dramatic rescue of a 16-year-old girl

kidnapped and taken hostage in the mountains of idaho. right now she's back home and safe with her family, after a manhunt that began a week ago today and ended with a chance encounter with strangers who knew something wasn't right. we get our report tonight from nbc's joe fryer. >> reporter: just 48 hours after rescuers pulled his daughter from the idaho wilderness. >> i'm very proud of her. >> reporter: brett anderson returns to san diego. >> the healing process will be slow. she has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal. >> reporter: hannah and kidnapping suspect james dimaggio were spotted saturday by surveillance plane at a desolate campsite. the area was so remote it took fbi hostage teams more than two hours to reach them. >> dimaggio had a rifle, and then he fired at least one round prior to being shot and killed. >> reporter: hannah was flown from the scene to safety. >> she was a victim in this case. she was not a willing participant, and she was under extreme duress. >> reporter: hannah didn't know her mother tina and 8-year-old

brother ethan were murdered until after she was rescued. investigators say dimaggio, a close family friend, killed them, set his house on fire and kidnapped hannah. the big break came wednesday in idaho's back country. >> for us to be there at the precise time to interact with them, it's, one chance in a trillion. >> reporter: two couples were riding horses when they stumbled upon dimaggio and hannah, not knowing at the time who they were. >> well, when i seen her, she had a fearful look in her eyes. and -- that put up a red flag for me. >> reporter: by friday, investigators found dimaggio's blue nissan shrouded by brush and debris. by saturday the car was towed for analysis, just as the manhunt came to an end. >> some of you might find the amber alert annoying, please, pay attention. keep your eyes open. let's bring those children home. >> reporter: the sheriff here in san diego says he will not

discuss any details about what happened during hannah's abduction as law enforcement continues its investigation into the events of the past week. lester? >> joe fryer, thanks. up next tonight, a big controversy brewing and concern for the safety of olympic athletes and visitors just six months until the games begin.

the winter olympics in sochi, russia, are just about six months away, and there is growing controversy over new anti-gay laws in that country that are raising concerns about human rights and about the safety of gay people visiting russia, also gay athletes. the international olympic committee is now getting involved asking questions of the russian government. we get our report tonight from nbc's michelle kosinski in moscow. >> reporter: right now, russia is on display hosting the world track and field championships. >> awarded to the city of sochi. [ cheers and applause ]

>> reporter: and they put on a dazzling show to help win the winter games in sochi, a stark contrast to the response it's garnering now around the world. angry protests, from europe to the u.s. >> no more russian vodka! >> reporter: celebrities and world leaders reacting with disgust to a russian law unanimously passed in parliament that allows for fines and arrests over anything deemed gay propaganda displayed in front of children. so how will this be enforced? does this really mean if someone was waving a rainbow flag or peacefully demonstrating? talking to young people about their life? they could be arrested? apparently, yes. activist nikolai called it frightening. >> they can decide whatever they want. a rainbow flag, a t-shirt. this very law is against openly gay people. >> reporter: there have been arrests here as protests that

brought calls by some for an olympic boycott. but athletes tend to disagree, like american olympian champion diver greg louganis who is gay. he was shut out of the 1980 games in moscow after the u.s. and others boycotted over the soviet invasion in afghanistan. >> i was world champion. so i thought that that opportunity was taken away from me. >> reporter: he and others say the best way to combat human rights policies here is for athletes to compete and win. michelle kosinski, nbc news, moscow. when we come back here tonight, a billionaire's big secret revealed, and it could change the way we travel forever.

back now with what was one of the biggest talkers of the day. the proposal by inventor and entrepreneur elon musk to revolutionize the way we travel faster and cheaper. musk says he was up all night working on the design before he released it today. were it anyone else, the world probably wouldn't notice, but this is elon musk. nbc's tom costello reports. >> reporter: what if going from point a to point b quickly no longer involved planes, trains,

or automobiles? >> bye! >> reporter: think "the jetsons." not jets. one of the world's most visionary entrepreneurs says it's no longer science fiction. >> a cross between a concord, a rail gun and an air hockey table. >> reporter: and l.a. to san francisco in just 30 minutes. may sound crazy but consider elon musk's track record. the 42-year-old billionaire who founded paypal invented the breakthrough tesla battery car, and was the first to dock a commercial rocket with the space station. his idea has hyperloop passengers traveling on a magnetic levitation system inside airless low pressure tubes similar to the tubes used by drive-through bank tellers, only passengers would travel up to 700 miles per hour. meanwhile, a colorado company called et3 has been working on similar technology for years. >> if there's a concerted effort to do it, that route can be built in a year or two.

>> reporter: but even if it works, critics say lining up the financing and clearing the regulatory hurdles would make the project impossible, at least in the near term. on the other hand, this is elon musk we're talking about. the inspiration for the iron man's tony stark character. the iron man suit sits on the space x factory floor. >> so can you save the world? can you save the country? >> i'll do my best. you know. working pretty hard to do some good here. >> reporter: musk says he doesn't have time to actually build hyperloop. he is hoping others will make his dream become reality. tom costello, nbc news, washington. that's our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being with us. i'm lester holt in for brian. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. goodod nightht.

>> announcer: nbc bay area news starts now. good evening. thank you for being with us. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. from controversial bill to landmark law. transgender students will be able to choose which bathroom or locker room they want to use, or whether they play on girl or boy sports' teams. the governor signing that into law. a movement to ban discrimination on school campuses. jodi hernandez is live in oakland with more on the impact of this. >> reporter: jessica, a law many are calling historic. california will become the first state in the country to enact a

law that protects the rights of transgender students in such a specific way. supporters say it send a clear message, all students deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. >> i'm thrilled. as a parent. as a transgender person it is important. as a californian. today is an important day. >> the reaction from the transgendered community and others on a bill governor jerry brown signed into law ensuring transgender students access to programs and facilities, bathrooms and locker rooms, based on the gender they identify with. >> transgendered boys are boys, transgendered girls are girls. they should be allowed to participate in the activity that correspond. >> transgender students and supporters celebrated. in oakland, school officials embrace the law and added district policy last year making it clear students can use th